8 Mind-blowing Facts About Beer

Barley was grown for five months in the Zvezda Service Module on the International Space Station. It had extremely limited results, though.

The barley was only able to produce 250 six packs of beer. They were produced by Sapporo. The six packs will be sold through a lottery system for 10,000 yen, or roughly $110 each, unfortunately; only people in Japan are eligible for the lottery, but all proceeds will go to charity.

The Russian Academy of Sciences, Okayama University, and Russia’s space agency Roscosmos are hosting the lottery. The charity that the proceeds will go to is for the promotion of science education for children and the development of space science research in Japan and Russia.

The barley was also produced, of course, for the purpose of achieving self-sufficiency in food in the space environment. How crazy that their first choice in product was producing barley beer. Have no fear, though, the astronauts can’t drink it.

This might be the perfect post for the beer loving, small business loving, Nickelback hating Michigan native. The Marshall, Michigan based microbrewery is called Dark Horse Brewery and has been around for a couple of years now.

Back in late 2009, Dark Horse received a call from a “Hollywood producer” who claimed that a rock band wanted to use their beer in a music video. Obviously, the band was Nickelback. Dark Horse considered the benefit of such an advertisement, because the video would no doubt get tons of airplay.

The spot would have involved a delivery truck pulling up to a frat party with crowd shots of kids holding the beers. Dark Horse ultimately declined, though, because they didn’t particularly like Nickelback or the frat parties depicted in the potential music video. If you had a burgeoning but small business, would you promote it with someone you dislike?

A pint of Guinness has fewer calories than Coors and Budweiser and has more flavor than them. Guinness draft has fewer calories than a serving of skim milk, which has 135 calories. It also has fewer calories than a serving of orange juice, which contains 183 calories. Twelve ounces of Guinness contains only 125 calories.

Alcohol is the primary calorie culprit. Guinness has only 4 percent alcohol content while other stout beers contain 6 percent. Guinness has more plain water content, and actually their water comes from Wicklow Mountain springs. Their beer contains fewer proteins and dense sugars, as well as zero fat. They keep a special reserve of their beer under lock and key in case anything happens to their main supply.

Guinness is well known for their habit of standing by the troops in desperate times. When World War I broke out, Guinness promised every one of their workers who went off to war that he would have his job waiting for him when he came home. Guinness even paid half of the man’s salary to his family while he was away to help support them.

Guinness only grew this trend of support by the time the second World War broke out. Then, Guinness promised every British soldier that he would have a bottle of the famous dark stout for Christmas Day. So ambitious was that task that retirees came to the plant to help brew. Veterans then joined in, and finally other brewing companies sent workers over to help brew the Christmas beer.

It’s been called one of the greatest moments of unity in Irish history. Those that stayed with Guinness through the Great Depression were also granted on site medical and dental care (as well as massage therapy). There were gymnasiums, athletic leagues, reading rooms, and even scholarships available. For those that died in the war, the company paid their full pension, helped with funeral expenses, and even paid for their child’s education.

Oh, and on top of all of this, those who served in the war were granted two free pints a day.

Ever watched an advertisement for beer and wondered why the people don't just drink already? It's actually a US law that people cannot actually be shown consuming an alcoholic beverage on television! While there are countless commercials advertising their use, none have their actors consume the product.

This is for several reasons. The first is when beer ads began to be featured on televisions, prohibition was just ending, and large companies feared viewers would find the consumption of alcohol too morally challenging. Thus, they refrained from showing anyone consuming alcohol. The second reason pertains to minors. When the drinking age was raised to 21, the government worried that too many minors would be brainwashed by ads depicting younger looking people drinking beer, thus they made it illegal to show anyone drinking at all!

Guinness is one of the most famous beers in the world. It was started by a man named Arthur Guinness in the late 1700’s and has since grown to capture worldwide attention. Arthur came from a prominent Irish family, in fact his godfather was an Archbishop of the Church of Ireland, and he originally received his first £100 from a will of a family member.

Instead of simply saving the money, Arthur opened his own brewing company in Dublin, establishing what would become one of the most profitable brewing companies in the world. Guinness originally founded his brewery in Leixlip in 1755 brewing ale, yet soon left for Dublin.

Once there he signed the famous 9,000-year lease that is still on display at the factory. The lease went into effect on 31 of December 1759, which means it is good until the year 10,759! Arthur Guinness went on to become extremely wealthy and is now known as one of the most prolific entrepreneurs, visionaries, and philanthropists in history.

Hops, like cannabis (marijuana), come from the hemp family Cannabaceae. Hops are flowers from a vine. Even though hops and marijuana are part of the same family, hops do not cause the same psychoactive effects as marijuana.
The effects of fermentation, and not the hops contribute to the effects beer has on the body. The hops in alcohol, while not contributing to a high or drunkenness, still play an important role. The acidity of the hops contribute to the bitter nature of beer as well as contributing oils that impacts how the beer tastes and smells.
Even more importantly, hops prevent the growth of some species of bacteria in alcohol. Other important ingredients in beer include malted barley and yeast. Since yeast is a micro-organism, you could say that beer is made from living creatures as well as flowers from the same family as weed. A pretty strange drink indeed!(Source)

And no, it's not a rebranded Keystone. A company is introducing a new beer called Pong Beer. The main presentation will be in a 30-pack, including 2 ping-pong balls. There's also a "Reload" pack with 60 beers and it comes with 4 ping-pong balls and a package of 16 oz cups.

If they can eat into some of the low-end Keystone market (the preferred beer for beer pong) they might strike gold. It's estimated that 50% of college students play beer pong and the market for pong related products has brought in more than $20 million (excluding the beer, we presume).

Will it succeed? Who knows, a 30-pack costs $18, which is high compared to the other brands. The market they're going for is decidedly cheap and probably won't buy them regularly more than once for the gimmick at those prices.